Azure Balance Hybrid, Tourist Bus on Grand Island

Hybrid electric technology manufacturer Azure announce today that its Balance Hybrid Electric shuttle bus will enter service as a tourist transporter on the Grand Island in Lake Superior, in what may prove to be the perfect way to raise public awareness to the need of greener transportation in tourist areas.

The bus was purchased by ALTRAN and will be used to shuttle passengers through a National Recreation Area. The Balance is a Turtle Top shuttle bus body equipped with Azure's technology, has a seating capacity of 16 and will get to the island just in time for the 2010 tourist season.

"The customer prioritized an environmentally friendly, clean, hybrid drive train that we were thrilled to provide," Jay Sandler, Azure Vice President of Sales said in a release.

"Since the bus will operate in a fairly remote island environment, ALTRAN needed a reliable, durable product. We were able to demonstrate that Azure technology has had impressive up-time performance in some of the hardest working conditions at major fleets in both the USA and Canada. Moreover, the bus will have a quality conversion by Turtle Top and will be well supported by Hoglund Bus on the sales and service side."

Willingly or not, Azure has identified the perfect usage environment for electric busses: tourism. The frequent starts and stops, as well as the lower speeds at which the bus will travel is the is ideal for using such vehicles. We expect to see more and more such announcements in the future.